Paper Wallet/Billfold Tutorial

Today I am going to do a tutorial on a paper wallet. I think these would be great for father's to place a gift card/cash in or great for a teenage girl or boy for the same. Heck make one for a young child to just play with. I was making all those cute little purse gift card holders for my children's teacher gifts for all the female teachers and then I had one male and thought I am sure he does not want a purse. So, I thought wallet! So I did a seach on youtube. So, I cannot take full credit for this prject idea, but I had a hard time following some of the steps and the videos go so fast. So I decided to take my own pictures and attempt to write my own instructions/tutorial. So, I am not sure how great I will be at this, so I will make an attempt at it and if you can't follow, PLEASE let me know so I can adjust them so you can. The youtube did not give measurements so I am giving you my own in inches.

This truly works best and is the easiest if you use a piece of double sided paper or card stock. M first one I made I used a one sided piece of pattern paper and found out that the inside pocket was just white and I certainly did not want my pocket white so I cut a piece that fit into that pocket later. I will show you that wallet at the end of this tutorial.

((Warning)) This looks long and complicated in writing, but it really is not. Once you have made one of these you can probably make the whole wallet in less then 10 minutes, without decorating it. Seriously!! I just wanted it to be a lot easier to figure out then the tutorial I followed. So of course I am windy!!
Step 1:

Take your 12x12 piece of double sided pattern paper or card stock and cut it to 10 3/4 x 8 3/4 inches.





















Step 2:

Fold the paper across its length, to a point approximately to a quarter of an inch above half of the page. (I kind of slightly fold it corner to corner to get the middle and pinch it on one side so I have more of an exact idea of the middle. Then I make this fold. Also make note, that the red on this pattern paper will be the outside of my wallet and the design you see will be the inside, so pay attention to which side you have up.





















Step 3:

Turn the sheet over with the fold in place and now make another fold by folding back the first fold and keeping it flush with the edge.

This is what is looks like looking down at it:




And this is what it looks likes if you were looking at it from the side:















Step 4.

Flip the paper over again. Fold the bottom of the sheet flush with the bottom of the other fold. You should now have 3 folds all flush with each other. When pushed together all folds should be flush with each other. The smaller fold will become the two credit cards compartments of the inside of the wallet and the pocket on top will become the money compartment of the wallet.

This is what it looks like from the top with all three folds (this will be the inside):




















Side view:


From the top (all folds are flush):




















Step 5:

This was the step which was not really clear to me. I also changed it some, because I wanted a more finished look on the outside and they had these little tabs on the outside and I didn't like the look on the outside of the wallet. So I did made 2 of these and I did each one differently. So I will TRY to attempt to make this clear. I also used Arleene's Tacky Glue for this part. This glue is quick dry and can be found at Wal-mart or any craft store and works great; I use it all the time.

Lay the wallet in front of you and with the small fold part facing upward which will be the compartments for the gift cards/credit card holder. This will be the inside of the wallet that you are now looking down at. Make a cut about a quarter of an inch wide "in" the top fold at the top of the wallet on both sides.


After these cuts, this would also be the time to look at your how tall your compartment fold is (the smaller piece that is folded up). I cut a little off of mine at this time so it was not too tall, but if this is your first one, just make the wallet and then the second time you will have a better idea of what you are doing.

Now, this is the part I changed for a more finished look and the part I had a hard time with their instructions.

Flip the wallet over so the inside of the wallet with the compartment side now down and unfold the fold where you just made the two cuts (I failed to take a pic of this.. sorry). Fold inward the paper edge the size of the cut you made in the fold down along both sides the length of the wallet that is facing up. Use a a tool to have as much as a hard fold as possible, a spoon would do. Now, when you refold the fold those new folds from the cut should go inward so they will be hidden when glued. I placed glue on all loose flaps and use it lightly so you don't have glue going into your money compartment. Make sure you do both these folds at the same time instead of doing one and gluing it and then attempting to fold the other one once you have glued one side down, this will make it much harder to fold if you do it that way. After I glue this I usually set a big ole book on it at this time and let it sit there for about 10 minutes and let it dry.

This is what it looks like from the side with the fold refolded and the new folds going inward to be hidden. The part that is near my palm is the top part of the wallet and and the compartment place for the credit cards is to the right side. Once you have these sides glued on both sides. With the left side being the outside of the wallet.



After this is glued you will now have two large pockets, one on top and one on the bottom. I also glued the bottom one closed just after the sides are dry. This will leave you with one large pocket for the money on the top.

This is what the sides of your wallet should look like after the glue is dry.




















This is the bottom pocket that I placed the glue in and then placed the big ole book back on it to dry. This is the "bottom" of the wallet!















Step 6:

Cut a slit in between the two future credit cards compartments, and tuck corners inside as illustrated below, I also glued these down, but you can do what you like...

This is the last step if you are making it for a male. To keep my wallet closed I cut a Velcro dot in half and place it at the top part of the card compartment pocket near the edge (see the 3rd pic from the bottom of this whole post). Now fold your wallet in half and crease really good. You have just made a paper wallet.


















If you are making one for a girl you might want to add a little closure tab like this. I cut a piece 2 1/4 x i inch for the closure tab and used a corner rounder to round each corner. I then glued it on the backside of the wallet and placed a Velcro dot on the front side.


This is looking down at the top inside pocket where you would place cash.

This is the inside of the wallet, I just added a little design to the compartment holders. My first one was for a male teacher and pretty boring, but I am sure I will be making some really cute ones for some girl friends!

This is the outside front,

This is my backside.















This is my first wallet I made for my daughter's male teacher. This is the one I did not use double sided pattern paper. If you choose to do it that way the inside pocket is what I had to cut to make my inside that is striped. Also, on this first picture can you see that little tab on the right side? That is what I didn't like the looks of! LOL.. so that is why I placed all the folded stuff inside. They placed it all inside except that tab, which held it together without glue, so I opted to tuck it in and glue it all!

I placed this striped pattern paper in after the wallet was all done since I used a one sided piece of pattern paper, so it is not impossible. If you do this, just cut the paper double height and once the length of the inside of the wallet, fold it in half per the height and tuck it in prior to gluing it in to make sure it fits nicely. Once you achieved the just right nice fitting size, place glue on that piece and slide it in carefully and lay your wallet flat and place your book on it to dry.

This is what it would look like with a gift card tucked it it. I made a little thank you card and tucked it in the compartment and placed movie tickets and a teacher quote on the inside money compartment.

This is a view with the little thank you card outside the compartment.


WOOOWEEEE... that took A LOT longer then I had initially anticipated. But seriously don't let the look of these instructions scare you away! This really is easy and quick, I am just long winded and detailed, I hope! So, if you make one, give me some credit for explaining it in great detail with pics and send people my way and I would LOVE to see anything you create! I am working on another one, which I think is super cute and it has a different twist other then just being a wallet. Need to finish it up and send it to where it is going and then I will be back to post some pictures of it. So make sure you stop back by with in the next week to see it, I am sure you won't be disappointed.

Thanks for bloggin by and now I think I need a breather... and sorry if there is any typos and please tell me if I need to make anything clearer so I can correct it! Or if you have any questions just email me!